Essay about Railroad Deregulation in Eu and Us

Railroads were becoming huge for large cities to import goods and many could not support

The article, “Creating the System: Railroads and the Modern Corporation”, informs us all about the development of the transcontinental railroad and how it helped drive the nation west and also transformed western North America into a economy that had many opportunities. The railroads have always interested me when it comes to this period of time. What I learned from the reading that I didn’t know before was that the Western railroads were primary carriers of grain, other agricultural produce, livestock, coal, lumber and minerals. Also seeing the prices that the farmers shipped their products for, and what they paid for the freights rates was very interesting. Overall, if the railroads wouldn’t have been built in a time when there was so little

Before the railroad was made, the journey to move products and people was long and expensive. Paying 5 dollars and 31 cents to move your product was an expensive form of transport, so when the railroad came around paying for shipping was a much easier task. In document E it makes the point clear that shipping when the railroad was made was less than a tenth of the cost of traveling by wagon. Because the railroad cut down on the cost of shipping, more people were able to get their product out all across the country and increasing commerce between

Larry Page once said, “Especially in technology, [we] need revolutionary change, not incremental change.” Whether he is speaking about the Transcontinental Railroad system or the latest iPhone, what he says is true. If change is going to happen, it needs to bring a revolution of some kind along with it, otherwise, it will just become lost in history. This makes us wonder, how did the railroad system affect the US? The railroad system benefited the US most economically by industrializing towns it ran through, lowering shipping costs, and allowing for mass imports and exports.

In the years following the Civil War, railroads had become the primary form of transportation for both people and goods. They were privately owned and entirely unregulated which gave them a natural monopoly in the areas that only they serviced. Monopolies are normally viewed harmful as they obstruct the free competition that determines the price and quality of products and services offered. The railroad monopolies had the power to set prices, exclude competitors, and control the market in several geographic areas. There was competition among railroads for long-haul routes but there was none for the short haul runs. This allowed the railroads to discriminate in the prices by charging a higher price per mile for short hauls than long hauls. They also discriminated in the prices they charged to passengers and shippers in different localities by providing rebates to large shippers or buyers. These practices caused problems to the American farmers who lacked the shipment volume necessary to obtain more favorable rates. The prices charged and the practices adopted by the railroad services greatly influenced individuals and businesses. Railroads also banded

Not only were economics majorly revolutionized during this time period but transportation transformed as well. Before the invention of the steam engine, goods were hauled by horse drawn carriages and the journey was a long and difficult one. Robert Fulton was the first to build a steamboat successfully. This caused for a wave of change and soon goods were hauled across the Atlantic (“Industrial Revolution”) After the rapid success of the steamboat, soon steam locomotives began to take the spotlight. The steamboat and locomotive enabled Americans to travel to different parts of the country in less tie add connected the U.S in a way that it had never been before.

To start, I will explain the purpose of the Transcontinental railroad. In Source #1”Full Steam Ahead The Transcontinental Railroad”, it says “People had been asking for coast-to-coast rail travel for decades. Since the invention of the locomotive in 1825, companies had built many rail lines. These railroads connected eastern cities and seaports,splashing travel times and helping these areas grow. Crossing the country, however was much more difficult. People and trade goods traveled by horse, stagecoach, or wagon train. The trip took months. Not many made the journey.” So the government during the time thought that building a railroad, would help businesses “ sprout up like corn.” According to Source #1 it also says “ Two companies immediately got to work. Railroads already existed that stretched from the East of Omaha, Nebraska. Now, the Union Pacific Railroad began extending the tracks from Omaha out to the West. The Central Pacific Railroad began in Sacramento,California and laid tracks out East. Eventually, the two companies would meet in Promontory, Utah. So, basically the purpose of the railroad was to get people and goods from coast-to-coast.

“If any act symbolized the taming of the Northwest frontier, it was the driving of the final spike to complete the nation’s first transcontinental railroad.”1 The first railroad west of the Mississippi River was opened on December 23, 1852. Five miles long, the track ran from St. Louis to Cheltanham, Missouri. Twenty-five years prior, there were no railroads in the United States; twenty-five years later, railroads joined the east and west coasts from New York to San Francisco.2

“Before the building of the Transcontinental Railroad, it cost nearly $1,000 dollars to travel across the country. After the railroad was completed, the price dropped to $150 dollars.”(History.com Staff). Prior to the railroad the average citizen of America could not afford to travel across the country cheaply. America waited for a means of transportation which would connect them from the Western to Eastern states. The responsibility of creating the railroads were left up to construction companies. Once this invention was created, traveling became quick, easy and affordable. The Transcontinental Railroad could be defined as the most significant change in America, during the 19th Century.

The construction of the transcontinental was a public/private partnership. The completion of the transcontinental railroad created a national economy. By 1900, there was not an area in the US that was not connected in some form by rail. The railroads transported consumer goods, people, supplies, and raw materials easily. The railroad allowed goods to be sold throughout the whole country, which in turn bolstered the US

This railroad led to an economic boom during and soon after its construction. The needs of the railroad generated hundreds of thousands of new jobs, new mines and new markers. Railroad companies employed thousands of workmen to survey an maintain the rails. Rails had to manufactured out of steel ,

Railroads became extremely popular in America in the 1800’s. The railroad industry itself began to boom; it was supported by its reputation for speed and efficiency. But, along with the booming industry of railroads came the strong debate that

"Railroads were the first big business, the first magnet for the great financial markets, and the first industry to develop a large-scale management bureaucracy. The railroads opened the western half of the nation to economic development, connected raw materials to factories and retailers, and in so doing created an interconnected national market. At the same time the railroads were themselves gigantic consumers of iron, steel, lumber, and other capital goods".

The creation of the railways in Canada was naturally a big job because of this fact many jobs were created for various Canadians. People were always needed to create the path and do the hard labour that was involved, however, this did not pay well for the very physical work that was involved. Much more people were now being employed to construct the railways and drive the newly built trains around that had carried many goods.

The steam engines trains were ran off coal. George Stephenson also created the first public steam engine train in 1824. With all the pain the gain started to show. After all the revolution with transport the trading routes started to begin. Even though this period in history produced long term gain, it was also how ever a time of short term pain to the people who were living and work in major